BOLLYWOOD BUZZ February 2005

February 2005

SRK's ghost is coming to haunt us!

Shah Rukh Khan and Amol Palekar ? strange bedfellows, you'd say! But the ?artsy' director and the hardcore commercial superstar have got together for a project. Apparently, Amol narrated a script to SRK which he found "very sweet". Result: Shah Rukh is producing the yet-untitled film which Amol is directing and which stars Rani Mukherjee. But what's not known is that this sweet story is actually a ghost story! SRK plays a double role in it. One sees him as Rani's husband and the other, as a ghost. The closest Shah Rukh has come to playing a ghost was in Chamatkar where Naseeruddin Shah was a spirit while SRK played a simpleton who comes in contact with him. And of course he romanced Ash's ghost in Mohabbatein!

Meanwhile, Shah Rukh is producing another film for his good friend Farah Khan. The Main Hoon Na director is already seriously looking at her next project ? a comedy, which will naturally star SRK himself.

Kareena carves her own ?space'

Kareena Kapoor is on cloud nine after the success of Aitraaz and Hulchul. But she's going even beyond that now ? into space! Noted film-maker MS Sathyu whose Garam Hawa pioneered a new genre of movies on India's partition, has zeroed in on Bebo to play the lead role in his new project, a celluloid adaptation of a true story set in the Indian Space Research Organization, the country's premier space research centre. The director who is critical of many Bollywood stars, however, has only words of praise for Kareena: "She is one of the very few good actresses today." Sathyu promises that the new film would be "shockingly refreshing" and would examine technological advancement against a matching lack of socio-cultural progress among scientists.

While on Kareena, wanna know how she got her name? Well, it's apparently inspired by Leo Tolstoy's famous novel Anna Karenina!

?Brides Wanted' for Waheeda's grandson

Veteran actress of yesteryears Waheeda Rehman has resurfaced after a long hiatus to search for a perfect match for her grandson. Of course, not in real life (Waheeda's children are not married yet) but in Girish Acharya's Brides Wanted. Waheeda and Girish Karnad who play an NRI couple in this comedy, realize that times have changed and that the Indian woman's values and lifestyle are not the same any more. Waheeda, who looks gorgeous even now, is cast in the role of a metrosexual, funky grandmother trying to keep up with the times. Girish Karnad admits he has been in love with "Waheedaji since I was 19". Model-turned-actor Anuj Sawhney, who holds a Master's degree in Business Administration from the U.S., plays their grandson. Girish Acharya, the 29-year-old director of the film, is a New York Film Academy graduate and a computer engineer. "It's not as if arranged marriages don't work. But how are you expected to take the most important decision of your life in 15-20 minutes?" asks Girish. He's right, don't you think!

Sush, Ash united against media

Sushmita Sen and Aishwarya Rai may not be the best of friends, but of late, they have been busy doing the same thing, which is: quashing rumors of being involved with industrialist and MP Anil Ambani, husband of former actress Tina Munim. Sush admits matrimony isn't far from her mind but she says she has absolutely no idea how her name got linked to Mr Ambani. "It's completely absurd. I've met Anil and his wife Tina several times but that's about it."

Aishwarya too is appalled at rumors linking her with the suave Anil Ambani. "For God's sake, I've met him socially along with his wife, only a couple of times." Ash's beau, Vivek Oberoi, has meanwhile, adopted a tsunami-hit village in Tamil Nadu. Benevolent, that's Ash's guy!

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